My first earthquake

Yesterday Mexico was hit by an earthquake of 7.2 magnitude. The epicenter was some 26km underground in Oaxaca (in the South of the country - please see my previous blog post to learn more about this beautiful place), but even though that is quite far from DF, we felt it here as well & as it was a first for me, I thought I'd share my experience. 

Mexico lies in an area particularly prone to earthquakes and small ones are frequent. Usually they don't cause any damage, however there have also been a few very severe shakes, most recently in September of 2017 when the earth shook for 4 minutes in DF. The last great earthquake before that took place 33 years ago and according to reports, as many as 10 thousand people died in it. Although the 2017 earthquake was just as strong, there were far less casualties and less damage to buidings because the country has since adapted certain solutions which make the infrastructure more resilient. I arrived to Mexico City in the end of October, right after these dramatic events when the trauma was still fresh, however the city had already been cleaned up, so much so, that it was almost possible to forget about what had happended here just a month earlier. 

We have just moved to a new house in another neighborhood and as I was walking home from work yesterday, everything felt unfamiliar - the streets, the traffic, the people gathered outside. As so when I first heard the earthquake alarm siren, I did not immediatly realize what it was. It was only when I saw a guy dressed only in his trunks, barefoot, holding a baby in his arms, his partner - wife or girlfriend - by his side, also barefoot, that I understood what was going on. Such alarms are frequent here and as usually nothing happens, I did not think much of it and decided to keep walking home, slowly, in the middle of the road. I had barely made a few steps, however, when I suddenly felt the ground literally move underneath my feet. That was when I decided it was better to stay with the people and so I turned back and waited with them. 

After a few minutes I continued on my way only to find all the residents of our building standing in front of it. As nothing more seemed to be going on, we decided to go back upstairs, however just a short while later we were in the street again, because the aftershocks had kicked in. 

We are so used to the idea of having a "solid" ground under our feet, the concept of "growing roots" or being "grounded" is so basic in our minds that we take that solid earth for granted. And so when it suddenly moves, it shakes up our whole perspective on life. Mexicans are easy-going, fun loving people. They laugh a lot and approach life light-heartedly. Such an attitude really helps when you are living with the perspective of an earthquake at any given moment. Yesterday nothing happened. We chatted with out neighbours and took Lola, the cat living in our apartment for a walk to the nearby grocery store. But many people were scared. They remember what happened just a few month ago and they know that it can happen again.

I received many messages from friends asking if I was OK. We also installed a special app called Sky Alert that is supposed to allert us about earthquakes one minute before they happen. One minute is supposed to be enough to go downstairs to the street but some people say that if you are on a high floor it is better to stay inside. I could see many people looking their phones during the alarm, as everyone here relies on this app for safety. 

Lola is the cutest, sweetest, most easy-going and friendly cat I have ever met. This is us standing in front of the house yesterday during the second earthquake alarm. Fot. by HH